This past semester was the first time I’ve had such a heavy load of schoolwork at a brand new school where I finally started focusing on my major all while working at Betsey Johnson 20-30+ hours/week. It was hectic and unfortunately didn’t allow me to stick to the goals I had for my blog. Although I had a great year in blogging, I definitely strived to do better, and would like to do so even further for 2012. For this upcoming New Year, I, like many of you I’m sure, have set up a detailed list of resolutions that I plan on being very persistent towards, all while keeping myself busy, focused on school, working, and somehow finding time to still socialize!
The new year is one of the best times to look back on your previous times, whether it be blogging, your education, your career, or yourself in general. What did you find yourself doing too much of? Was there something that didn’t occur enough? What did you not make a priority that you now believe you should have? In general, I love looking at the New Year as a chance to change things, even though I’m constantly thinking about how I can improve on a daily basis. Nonetheless, here are ten resolutions that I’ve set – and you can to – for making my blogging journeys better than ever before.
❤ Focus on quantitative goals rather than qualitative goals. I definitely need to dive into the blogging world more when it comes to building relationships with other fellow bloggers, which will, in turn help me out, too. For instance, goals like leaving 200 comments a month, adding 5 new pages to my blog roll per month, and hosting a kick-ass event to celebrate my blog – these will only motivate me to keep going even further and will leave me with a great feeling of accomplishment.
❤ Make your resolutions time specific. Set smaller, short term goals instead of unrealistic ones that can actually stress you out. Just as I mentioned above, leaving 200 comments a month is much more achievable than driving yourself to leave 500+ comments.
❤ Stick to the motivation behind why you began to blog. Whether it’s self-inspirational or you feel the need to share your interests and/or fashion knowledge with others – no matter what the reason may be, take time to reconnect with it. This will definitely help keep you motivated; after all, if we have little or no motivation to work on something, well, it won’t get done!
❤ Don’t ever compare your successes or failures to other bloggers – this is YOUR work! It’s very easy as a blogger to compare your work to others, especially considering the amount of blogs and articles we read per day. But they aren’t you! When thinking about all of your ambitions, only take into account yourself and who you are writing for (even if you are only writing for yourself – that’s completely fine!) Don’t ever feel the need to have a thousand ads because another does and especially don’t feel obliged to showcase your statistics – who is asking!?
❤ Don’t feel obligated to join every single new social media site. It’s important to know where your traffic is coming from. I’m definitely guilty of this – this past year alone, I’m pretty sure I’ve joined every single fashion networking site and I only find myself going back to a few of them. Know which ones you feel most comfortable in, you will use the most, and can reach out to others in the greatest way to better impact you and your blog. This way, you can actually put your energy and full devotion into building up those relationships in a genuine way.
❤ Build sincere relationships. Blogging is an activity or job that we do on our own, so it’s definitely very easy to feel like you are isolated and disconnected from others, especially since we mostly sit on our computers to do it all! Building up relationships with other bloggers, local boutiques, PR companies and readers can be quite the challenge but is very rewarding when doing so.
❤ Conquer and master your fears. The blogging world is rapidly growing, especially in the styling sense. I’m sure we are constantly obsessing over bloggers who showcase their daily outfits with extensive details on what they are wearing, all shown off in high-quality photographs. Remember, for the most part, these fashion enthusiasts aren’t professional photographers, they just practice! Get over your fear by finding tutorials and practice until you’ve perfected it! We have to be mini-experts in many fields as bloggers, so go on and start learning!
❤ Learn the boring, yet important, things. You may know absolutely nothing about web design, HTML, CSS, or coding, but these factors can play a huge role into readers coming back to your site. I’ve taken the time to learn the basics that can make my blog stand out from others, whether it’s knowing how to center my header perfectly, choosing a shade of pink that isn’t too blinding regardless of what web browser you use, or what font is pleasing to my audience. Grab a tech-savvy friend, have them teach you the ins and outs and you’ll notice a difference!
❤ Put yourself out there with someone you want to work with. It’s obviously easy to sit back and wait for people to come flocking to you and your amazing blog. But you need to pitch yourself to that blogger, brand, company, or designer that you’ve been dying to work with. Shoot them an e-mail – say who you are, how you can work together, and why you would be a good fit. The worst they can say is they are not interested and the best that can happen is a brand spankin’ new connection, internship, or job!
❤ Take time off when you really need it. And tell your readers. Burning out from blogging is normal, as it’s easy to fill every free moment of our lives with it. It’s important to give ourselves credit, a pat on the back, and sit back to enjoy life for a bit. Enjoy a night out with friends, go on vacation to forget about your site for a day or two, or simply take up another hobby or interest that you can fill up your time with. This isn’t to say blogging is negatively strenuous, but it’s definitely tiresome! Just don’t forget to let your readers know if you go on a hiatus – this is something I definitely need to do more often.
Look out for my next post featuring looks to wear for this New Year – whether you’re keeping it low-key by relaxing with friends or partying the night away, I’ve got you covered! Along with some tweaks to my page and more to come in 2012, stay tuned (:
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